a skinny and pale young boy around the age of 15 tired endlessly in the mines of the Valoy clan, his eyes swollen with fatigue his body littered with scars from the base of his neck to the bottom of his feet, typical slave wounds, the only thing that differentiated him from his peers was his blood red hair. The wounds were a result of his often times rebellious behavior.
DING, the sound of the bell could be heard even from within the mine.
"Finally, it's breakfast time"
Jay quickly began to pack up his pickaxe and bag full of mana stones, the stones were the Valoy clan's main source of income, and it was the slaves job to gather them.
the slave encampment was as big as a small town, wooden buildings ran up and down the hilly mountain but jay looked for one in particular.
The turn in station.
At different intervals throughout the day the slaves would gather there and exchange the stones that they'd painstakingly gathered for notes, these notes could be used to buy different things such as equipment and clothing.
"Fuck, this line is as long as ever" jay had been through the Turn in hundreds of times by now and waiting in the line hadn't got any easier.
"50 stones that's 5 notes kid, seems you made your deadline again"
"like I always do old man" jay replied
the old man that jay was talking to, was Bishop. He had been a clerk at the Turn In for as long as jay could remember being here.
from what jay knew he started off as a miner like him and was promoted to a clerk after he had aged old enough that the masters knew chances of him rebelling were close to zero, they only gave power to those they were confident in subduing, even if that power was minimal.
for many in the encampment bishop had achieved what all of them dreamed of achieving, he worked until he was old enough that he couldn't work anymore and when he couldn't he was allowed a desk job with minimal physical labor.
although this was the dream of many Valoy slaves it was not Jay's dream. without any known parents or birthplace being a Valoy slave was all he knew and yet he dreamt of more.
a life without captivity, a life without boundaries or rules forced upon him by those he did not choose to follow, a life where he was able to choose why he rose in the morning and what he did with his days, he wanted to choose why he sweat and why he shed blood, and most of all he didn't want to be forced to bend and kneel while he was whipped by the enforcers for disobeying.
He wanted freedom. he knew that if his thoughts were to become known by anyone else it wouldn't come with the usual whip, it would be death.
the thoughts he tried so hard to keep hidden from everyone else were stirred once every 2 weeks on the Friday that the new slaves were brought in and trained.
it was jay's favorite day not because he got to watch the new slaves suffer as he did, but because that was the day he got to see the soldiers. For jay the soldiers represented what he wanted the most, freedom. Sure, they worked under the Valoy clan but at the very least they were valued because of their power when surges of mana beast would become tedious for the Valoy the soldiers were deployed, when wars needed to be fought the soldiers would be sent to eliminate the enemy, the soldiers would and could die fighting their worth was proven on the battlefield.
Today was that Friday.